#cutecars

https://www.instagram.com/artbyshine/

https://www.instagram.com/artbyshine/

View On WordPress

A new #drawing I did over the weekend. Based on a picture i saw on pinterest. #love drawing #cars will post the process video tomorrow! #picoftheday #cutecars #2cv https://www.instagram.com/p/BmvRGtFiwAC/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=dys43np0jbpv

The original #Nash Rambler of 1950 was instantly well-liked by a certain segment of the public - people who wanted smaller cars but not less plush ones - where other Detroit small cars like the Henry J fell short. But George Mason, the charismatic, cigar-chomping, CEO of Nash-Kelvinator was already devising an even smaller car, however, before the Rambler came online. - The Rambler was decidedly larger than many early imports, and tiny “Grocery getters” were on many drawing boards in 1949. Nash hired the designer William Flajole to come up with one that Nash might be able to produce. Flajole built a prototype based on a Fiat Topolino - the prototype Nash N.X.I. (Nash Experimental International). The concept was shown in 1950 to a warm response. - The price was targeted at $1,000 and it sat only two, as a convertible or hardtop. Mechanical components were to be sourced internationally. Buying mechanical pieces from England, France, or Italy was the only way to keep it profitable - and even then, the tooling costs might be too high to make it work. Small cars don’t cost any less to make than big ones in tooling and labor costs. - Nash negotiated with several companies, but in the end, Austin of England was chosen as the partner - in part because of Nash’s connections with Donald Healey (both parties were collaborating on the very quick Nash-Healey sports car). Fisher & Ludlow, soon to be part of the Austin/Nuffield combine, was chosen to build the bodies, with final assembly at Austin’s Longbridge, saving millions in tooling costs. The cars arrived for the 1954 model year. - In practice, the little car - called the #NashMetropolitan - was much like the Austin A40 but smaller and lighter. It was lots of fun to drive because unlike other Detroiters, it was small and light - but it’s overall slowness, even with the larger B-series engine, supplanting the old A40 engine in late ’54, didn’t help mass acceptance. - The Metro was never a big seller, and at one point excess capacity was given to a rebadged Austin version for international markets. Sales peaked in 1957 at 22,209 units. The little car, by then quite dated, ran into 1962. #Cutecars #microcars #ig_autoshow https://www.instagram.com/p/BqkzT2_FIZI/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ovxqqod45dfe

Cute VW bug I saw in Tomball earlier this year. . . . . . . . . . . . #cutecars #cars #instagram #classiccars #tomball #tomballrealtor #magnoliarealtor #tomballHomesForSale #HomesForSale #HowDoISellAHome (at Tomball, Texas)

The #Mini was as instantly popular as it was different - in the first four years, #BMC built 660,000 of them, and almost 2.2 million by the time it turned ten. The cutting-edge front-driver cost a fortune to develop, and so it was natural to spread those costs over as many models as possible. It was in the first ten years that most of the variations of the car were launched, including two very unusual “Luxury” Minis - The #RileyElf and the #WolseleyHornet. Both #Riley and #Wolseley, each a storied marque of the past, were in their twilight in the 1960s, with badge engineering having been necessitated by their low volumes, and the two marques sold mainly in the U.K. (Rileys were not widely sold in the U.S. after 1959). There was no disguising the Mini origins of the the Elf and Hornet, but they got a unique shell built by an outside contractor - Fisher & Ludlow at Castle Bromwich (later part of Pressed Steel) - with a proper trunk and, consequently, a “three box” shape, decked out with a big chrome grill and subtle fins, which made it look a bit like larger luxury cars. The trunk seems an odd fit on the familiar silhouette of the Mini but was actually quite useful in terms of carrying more stuff. Inside the Wolseley was fairly plain, but the Riley had a big wood full-width dash, easily the fanciest Mini interior feature for many years afterward. Introduced in 1961, the Elf/Hornet were at first let down by the engine BMC chose for them - the 848-cc A-series with just 34 hp. The Mini 850 was a good car but the Elf/Hornet had more weight to carry around and carried higher price tags - but this was partly fixed by swapping in a single-carb version of the 998-cc engine from the Cooper for the MK2 in late 1963. These fancy Minis never got any larger engines than that from the factory and performance was sedate - but they did enjoy all the handling and chuckable feel of the Mini. 59,367 Elfs & Hornets were made through 1969, when Riley was cancelled and Wolseley pared back. The trunkback shell was also used on some South African-built Austin variants.  #BritishCars #wwabfm #LifeofRiley #OriginalMini #ig_autoshow #British #cutecars #practicalclassics #TinyCars #1968 (at Juanita, Washington)

Modes of #transportation #italianstyle ... from the adorable to WTFisthat? #fiat500 #macchineitaliane #italiancars #littlecars ( one even had a portable barrel of wine ...not sure how they would get out of a dui charge) #fiatcinquecento #cutecars #italytrip (at Orvieto)